


The Planet Of Shattered Fairy Tales

by Masterweaver



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect Trilogy, RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-06 14:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17941451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterweaver/pseuds/Masterweaver
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple rescue mission, but one firefight and uncontrolled relay jump later four survivors have been forced to land on an uncharted planet filled to the brim with deadly monsters. Now they have to survive long enough to fix their starship, which means dealing with the natives.Who might just be stranger than the deadly monsters themselves...





	1. Chapter 1

The Batarian Hegemony was many things, but one of the things it was _not_ was hypocritical. They'd enslave members of their own race just as easily as they would any other--more easily, even, as there were established systems for the selection from the lower castes, rendering raids unnecessary. In the eyes of the Hegemony, everyone was, in the end, serving somebody; be they bound by blood, money, tradition, or power, service to those greater was simply the way of things. Slavery was an extension of fact, taking those who had no power and making sure they _understood_ the foolishness of trying to provoke those stronger than they were. The Citadel Council could go on and on about violation of sophont rights and the cruelty of being treated like livestock but, really, who were they fooling? The Quarians were banished, the Krogan were neutered, and nobody ever mentioned the Keepers. No, as brutal as their methods were, the Hegemony was both fair and honest about their slaves--weak beings whose defiance would cause numerous tedious issues in any society, and so were forcibly _directed_ to serve the strong. The Batarian Hegemony were not hypocrites.

Individual Batarians, on the other hand...

Haroo'tha Kramar was the kind of person whose natural laugh was a cackle. Most Batarians inflicted suffering only to ensure their lessers understood their place, but Haroo'tha delighted in inflicting pain, in seeing those beneath him break in so many myriad ways. Sometimes he would campaign, over the course of a few months, to slowly strip away everything valuable from one particular individual and leave them listless and destitute, unknowing of who preyed on them from afar. Sometimes he would arrange, oh so incidentally, to take a promising child of some sort and throw them into the hellscape of the criminal underworld, where morality was bought by credits alone. Sometimes he would watch a rising artist, sponsor them in secret, encourage their dreams, and then smirk while arranging the perfect scandal to ensure their work would never again be treated as anything other than a black mark in a society's entertainment. And, sometimes, he would take the simple route: buy a slave and abuse them to death in his own private mansion. There were many flavors of sadism, after all. Variety was the spice of life.

Even by the standards of Batarians, Haroo'tha Kramar would have been a total monster deserving of quick and efficient punishment. There were, however, a few factors in his favor. Firstly, that he was wealthy--and more importantly, that he understood wealth, that he did not merely spend money for the purpose of gaining what he wanted but knew where best to apply it for leverage. Secondly, that he was crafty, dangerously so; after all, he so often created terrible fates from shadows and distance, he often had many schemes going on at once, all to amuse himself with the suffering of others. And then there was the simple matter that, well, there was a lot of space in space. Shells within shells, hiding spots the size of moons, to trace anything back to him was an exercise in futility for most and even for the ones who could, well, he'd need to catch their attention first. Something he was intelligent enough to avoid.

But everyone could make mistakes. And a mistake Haroo'tha did make, arranging the capture of one particular Asari. He had planned to torment her and secretly send records of such torment to her mother, which would be wonderfully horrible for him, but the slaver crew he'd set upon her home planet was not quite as discrete as they could be, and the mother in question was experienced enough to keep a secret but watchful eye on her daughter from afar. The moment her signal went dark, she had contacted a spectre who she'd worked with before. Officially she spun it as a chance to look into mysterious slaver raids. Unofficially, it was a favor from a friend who had children of his own, to perhaps be remediated at another date.

* * *

It took only hours for the spectre to round up a fire squad, load them into a corvette, and launch toward the planet that had gone dark. They arrived just as the raiders left, chasing the small squad of starships through the relay to engage them in a firefight.

The spectre ran his talons over the gun in his hand, glancing across the way. "Which one has K'Lena?"

"Either the Chalorfa or the Morbek," grumbled the reptilian figure, eyes not deviating from the computer screen. "Eyewitness accounts are scrambled, but I'm hacking the Chalorfa's systems..." He sighed. "No match on the records."

"The Morbek, then. You hear that Parzon?"

"Got the target, got it locked." Large eyes blinked once at the various screens in front of him. "Ports are all shielded. That model does have internal blast doors, though. Crash through the bridge and nothing else breaks."

"Not your call. But it's a good one." The spectre put on his helmet. "Right. Plan is this: We suit up and head to the airlock. Straiq blows a hole in the bridge and we jump. Once we're on board, sweep till we find the slave pens, get our target and any other slave we can find, head for the ship's ports, and call Parzon for pickup."

"Break in, get our girl, rush out." A heavyset warrior chuckled darkly as he covered his face. "This'll be a breeze."

"Airlock ready," the pilot reported. "I can halt ten seconds for your jump, but after that I'm going to be busy buzzing around."

"You heard the man. Get to the airlock! Straiq, you're center."

The squad of seven rushed into the tiny chamber, helmets on and weapons ready. The door behind them snapped shut, air hissing away into the starship.

"Parzon, give us a countdown."

"Halting for jump in twenty seconds."

Anticipation grew in the small squad, only the faint rattle of the ship's work and their own breathing being heard.

"Now!"

The moment the outer door slid open, the heavyset warrior launched forward in a streak of blue, slamming through the hull of the other starship like a cannonball. The spectre ignored the bodies that poured out of the new rupture, counting down on his fingers; at the six-second mark he signaled, and the rest of the squad leapt out, across the void of space. Magnetic boots ensured most of them made it but, by pure happenstance, one of the corpses pouring out of the gash hit an invader and sent them both tumbling out into the void.

"Treqa!" swore the spectre, following the lost companion with his eyes for a moment.

Another nodded. "That is an ill omen. We best get inside."

With a nod, the spectre gestured them in. The heavyset warrior was rolling his shoulder, giving the group a glance before jerking a thumb at the consoles. "Found a map. Pens are three decks down."

"Let's get to it. Hopefully, that'll be the worst we go through this mission."

* * *

"Bosh'tet nar tasi vas prila! Shreem kora vec'tet rezlo moranz!"

Another Batarian went down to the already battered pipe in the suited woman's hands.

"...I can understand Khelish," mumbled the blue person behind her.

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to filter myself for anybody." The suited woman jabbed her pipe into a control panel, leveraging it aside. "Besides, you know I'm right."

The other woman conceded the point with a shrug, glancing at the bodies behind her. "By the goddess... why did this have to happen to me?"

"Batarians will raid anyone these days." With a huff, the suited woman snapped the panel off, looking at the wires underneath. "I mean what good's a quarian as a slave? Tech skills don't translate well to menial labor, and tet if I'm going to let myself be pushed around when it comes to computers."

"...can't you just hack that with, um... hacking... programs?"

"They took my omnitool when they got me. If you've got a spare, sure, but otherwise it's hotwiring time." Her delicate fingers danced around the internal circuitry. "Stand out of the way of the door, by the way, you don't want to get shot."

"Right. Oh, right!" The woman quickly moved out of the way, glancing at the corpse at her feet. "Um, should I pick up his gun?"

"You have gun training?"

"...no..."

"Then no. Same reason I'm still using this pipe. Don't want to accidentally shoot somebody who doesn't deserve it."

The door slid open and the two of them threw themselves against a wall, tense for a moment or two. The lack of gunfire caught their attention.

"Is--"

The suited woman pushed the other against the wall when she started to lean out. "Could be a trick." She took her pipe, angling it and, in one motion, sweeping it across the door.

"Really?" called a flanged voice. "I'm supposed to fall for that?"

The blue one's eyes widened. "That's a turian!"

"I can tell. Hey! Turian! We're not batarians!" The suited woman stuck her hand out slowly. "See? Three fingers--well, the asari has five, but we're on your side!"

"Fair enough. I'm lowering my gun, you can come out!"

Slowly, the suited woman peered around the door. Yes, it was a turian--suited up for deep space. "I'm guessing you're the one we have to thank for shaking up the ship?"

"Not alone. But I'm the only one left..." The turian looked at the asari stepping out. "Aernli K'lena?"

"...yes, that's me," the asari confirmed warily.

"I'm Korax Atherni, your mother sent me to save you." He pulled a pack off his back. "Suit up."

"What?"

"We're going to have to jump to our ride," he explained, tossing it to her.

The suited woman looked at him incredulously. "Did you jump into the ship?"

"More or less. Right through the bridge."

"Keelah..." She trailed a hand down her mask. "What were you thinking?"

"The ports are all shielded. One moment." Korax pulled out a comm. "Parzon, found our target. We'll be at the starboard ports in a few minutes, get ready to fly by and catch us."

Aernli looked at the fabric in her hands. "Um... I... don't know how to put this on--"

"Oh, here." The suited woman took it from her, opening the back. "Leg."

"What?"

"Stick out your leg!"

"Oh, right."

Korax sighed. "Civilians..."

"Excuse you, but this _civilian_ took out the guards with a pipe!"

Aernli rose a finger. "Um--"

The suited woman looked her over, running her hands across the fabric. "Right. Suit is sealed, armor's in place, helmet--here it is."

"Oh." Aernli took the helmet, putting it on. "It's kind of tight..."

"It's supposed to be. Sealed environment. You put it on wrong, you need to make sure it goes over your collar."

The turian tapped his foot. "Ladies, we're on a time limit..."

"Excuse me for not wanting anybody else to die!"

Korax shook his head. "This has to be the worst mission I've been on," he grumbled. "Let's hope it doesn't get any worse..."

* * *

"Everyone aboard?"

"Everyone still alive, Parzon."

The pilot glanced over his shoulder. "Shame, the others seemed nice. Let's get out of here." A few taps on the control panel sent the small ship spiraling through the squad and toward the very relay they had arrived in.

"I can't believe... I can't believe that all happened," Aernli mumbled. "Slavers, and, and that fight and--"

"You're in shock," the suited woman said gently. "It's going to be fine, I promise--"

The ship rattled suddenly.

"Parzon!" Korax barked.

"We're getting shot at," the pilot replied. "Just means we're going to have to do a little more dodging, we're almost there."

The suited woman stood. "If you miscalculate the jump--"

"Don't. Worry about it. You think a Spectre would trust just any old pilot?"

Aernli blinked. "Wait. Korax, you're a Spectre?"

"Yes. That wasn't obvious?"

"She's going through a lot," the suited woman pointed out.

"Relay upcoming!" The pilot tapped a few keys. "Locked in, jumping in three, two--"

In a moment of impossibly bad luck, one of the batarian ships managed to hit the corvette's starboard thruster just as it entered the relay's influence. This would ordinarily be bad enough, what with crippling the ship, but the split second of differing momentum translated into the ship hurtling through the corridor of warped spacetime in just the wrong direction. The pilot frantically tried to correct their path, or at the very least save the ship from being torn apart. Had he been any lesser, he'd have failed at both goals, but thankfully enough he managed to bring them out alive.

For a moment the four of them took the time to breathe a sigh of relief.

Then the suited woman froze. "Wait, I can't hear the air cycler. Is there air in this ship?"

"Let me check..." The pilot tapped a few buttons. "...ah. No, our atmospheric system is leaking." He pulled a helmet off the wall and put it on quickly. "We'll be out of air in minutes. Apparently, our portside got torn off. And our starboard thruster is out. We have the central array, but they're meant for in-system transit, not interstellar."

"... _are_ we in a system?" Korax asked grimly.

"We're in orbit of a star," the pilot replied. "If there are any planets around... I don't know, I'm not getting anything from the bouys."

"So you're saying we're in uncharted space," the suited woman pointed out.

"Yes we are... ah... I'm sorry, I never got your name."

"Teeni'Powa nar Usela."

"Parzon Qwuiv." The pilot turned around. "One tet of a pilgrimage, huh?"

"That's certainly one way to put it."

"Right now we need to focus on survival," Korax interjected. "We have the air in our suits and when that runs out, we're dead. We need to find a planet with a breathable atmosphere, which means we need to find a planet. Parzon, do some sweeps."

"On it."

The wounded corvette limped through the void, searching for one tiny pebble of hope, oblivious to the ancient secrets its passengers would soon become embroiled in.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's a garden world," Parzon said again.

"It has a shattered moon!" Teeni protested. "That has to be recent, there's no way that thing has a stable orbit!"

"It could actually stay like that for a few million years," Aernli pointed out. "Assuming that meteorites fell during the initial destruction--"

"It can't have been destroyed naturally," Teeni countered. "Look at it! That spread... Something from the planet had to cause that."

"Maybe whatever caused it is long dead."

Korax crossed his arms. "We're running on limited air. That means we need to land somewhere, and this seems to be the only planet with air in the system."

"The only one within range," Parzon corrected. "There are a few other possibilities, but we'd run out of air before we reached them."

Teeni groaned, leaning against the bulkhead. "I know that... Look, I'm not saying we don't land. I'm saying we should run a scan for, I don't know, comms or tech or whatever. If whatever wrecked the moon is still there, we don't want to attract their attention. Not without knowing if they could do it again."

Aernli nodded. "She's... right, actually. We should check for radio transmissions, run a few tests on the atmosphere..."

"Data is useless without analysis," Parzon pointed out. "Do you have the training to check for signs of civilization?"

"Erm. Yes, actually."

Korax gave her a look.

"I... have training to be a planetary analyst," she admitted. "For colonization, mining... first contact..."

"Hrm." After a moment, he shrugged, gesturing toward a terminal. "Right. I'll give you control of the scanners. But you'd better work fast, we less than an hour before we have to land."

"I understand." Aernli started tapping on the keys. "I'll tell you as soon as I have anything."

Korax turned to Teeni. "Far be it from me to stereotype, but how much of the ship do you think you could fix?"

"Well the batarians took my tools when they captured me, but assuming you have something here for me to work with... I'd need to look over the damages before I said anything." She sighed, encompassing the entire cabin in a single gesture. "I can tell you this much though: even cannibalizing part of the ship to fix the rest might not be enough. And it's not like I'm a one-woman manufacturing plant, there are some things I just can't replace."

"Noted. We'll consider our options after we land and assess the damages."

"We should probably consider rationing too. I mean, we've got opposite chiralities here, and this ship doesn't look like it was meant to last long without taking on new resources."

Korax nodded. "Alright. Parzon, you keep an eye on the planet. Aernli, if it's possible, we want to land somewhere out of sight of any civilization but within walking distance--preferably in a forested area. Tell Parzon if you find that. Teeni and I are going to take stock of our resources."

He grumbled as he turned toward the lockers. "At least things can't get any worse..."

* * *

The starship nosed aside a few trees as it glided roughly down, one or two great wooden trunks breaking and falling away to make room. The thrusters died to the cacophony of disturbed animals rushing from their homes, attempting to avoid the wrath of the great beast that had arrived. With a weary hiss, the airlock slid open, and taloned feet stepped onto the dirt.

"Air seems to be clear," Korax announced. "At least, my suit filter's not giving me any warnings."

Parzon stepped out after him, inhaling deeply. "Almost feels like I'm back on Jaëto. You know, besides the shattered moon."

"I'll check our damages," Teeni declared, hauling a toolbox around the ship. "Parzon, you want to help me with that?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"I'll gather some biosamples from the trees," Aernli said. "At the very least we'll learn the chirality of life on this planet... maybe even find some food."

Korax grabbed her shoulder. "I'll come with you."

"What," Teeni snarked, "are you afraid she's going to get attacked by the feral trees?"

"Actually, I'm more worried about the wildlife." He flicked his head toward the starship. "We weren't exactly quiet with our landing, they could take that as a challenge."

Parzon shrugged. "More likely they were scared off by the big roaring sound. We might get a few curious outlyers, but I think most of them will stay away."

From the treeline came a dangerous growl, followed by a few more.

"I could be wrong," Parzon admitted.

Korax moved between Aernli and the strange creatures emerging from the trees, taking in their skull plates and bone spurs. "They look like melee fighters. No weapons."

"Maybe they're sapient," Aernli suggested. "See the face markings? If we can communicate with them, they might be able to help."

Korax shook his head. "That's not paint. That's baked in. They're geometric, sure, but--"

One of the creatures reared back, letting out a long, high cry, and the rest of them swarmed forward with snarls.

"Treqa!" A gun swept up, focusing on one attacker. One shot, two, three, and it went down. Korvax snapped his gun to another, already close enough for him to shoot it in the chin, and a third raked him with a clawed strike.

"Teeni! Aernli! Back in the ship!" Parzon had already pulled out his own gun and aimed it at another, who dodged his shot. "We've got combat armor, you've only got ordinary suits!"

Teeni was already running for it, grabbing Aernli and dragging her in. "Come on, let the spectre handle this."

"They just dissolved," the asari murmured in shock. "When he killed them, they didn't bleed, they just... poofed into smoke."

"Really? Weird. Did you guys get that?"

Korvax grunted, pushing off the beast attacking him and headshotting it. "I noticed. Not normal. Figure it out later." He spun his gun around, putting a hole through one of the black creatures' chest.

"Poor tactics," Parzon noted, sniping another. "Rush in and get killed. Either these are dumb animals or we're not noticing something."

"Never underestimate the enemy," Korax muttered as another creature fell to his gun. "This group could be stupid, but others might be smarter."

"Right..." With one last pull of his trigger, Parzon put an end to the assault. "Four. How many did you get?"

"Eight."

"...That's not right," Aernli said. "There were... there were thirteen of them."

* * *

"You're sure there were thirteen?"

"For the last time, Teeni, yes, I'm sure!"

"I'm sorry, I just..." Teeni sighed, rubbing her wrist. "This whole day has got me on edge. Kidnapped by batarians, fighting out of a slaver ship, jumping to an airlock, ship crippled in uncharted space... I'd like it, I'd really like it if something went our way for once."

"Understandable," Korax admitted. "Can you at least tell us what we need to fix and what we have to work with?"

"Well the air cycler itself is mostly undamaged," she replied. "A few nicks, nothing that can't be fixed. The issue is in the connective tubing, a lot of gashes and cuts. We'll need to patch those up and re-armor the whole port side. Honestly, our best bet is to take apart our staboard thruster assembly for parts. It'll be ugly, but we'll be able to fly around the system at least."

"And interstellar flight?"

Teeni shrugged. "Unless you have a spare thruster or two, I can't help you there. We either find a relay and pray there are ships on the other side, or we hunker down until we can harvest the planets for the resources we need."

"...We may not need to," Parzon mused.

Korax gave him an inquiring look.

"One of the creatures saw me point my gun at it and dodged. That means it knew what a gun was."

"And even the most basic guns require a certain level of industry," Aernli mused, catching on. "So there's some sort of settlement close enough for them to fight..."

"What kind?" Teeni asked. "Cause if we're talking basic 'boomstick' levels, that's only  _next_  to useless."

"Look, I picked up radio waves in my scans. That means an understanding of circuitry, at the least. If we find these people and ask them to help us--"

Korax shook his head. "I'm vetoing that. We don't know anything about these people. We don't even know their language, I assume. We go to them, they could see it as the vanguard of an alien invasion."

Aernli huffed. "Well, where do  _you_  suggest we get new thrusters?"

"You both have good points," Teeni interjected. "We can't fix this ship on our own, and we can't just go barrelling in unprepared. We've got to... I don't know... make limited contact. A few random civilians, talking about 'the aliens in the woods,' they wouldn't be taken seriously right?"

"That still leaves the issue of communication," Parzon pointed out.

Aernli cleared her throat. "I... ah... have some training in using melding for communication."

Korax gave her a flat look. "Training."

"...Training."

Teeni crossed her arms. "So Aernli's been suspiciously useful, fine, when we get back to Citadel space you can throw her in a cell. Until then, we need to figure out how to get in touch with the locals."

"Hijack their radio waves," Parzon suggested. "No message, but regularly irregular pings on a high-traffic frequency. They'll send somebody to check it out."

"You want to bring them to the ship?" Korax asked flatly.

"It doesn't have to be directly to the ship," Teeni pointed out. "We could rig up a beacon and stick it nearby. Watch who comes and see what they're like. It'll give us something better to go on, anyway."

Korax fingered his gun. "...alright. We'll make a beacon, but nobody turns it on until I scout out a good spot to put it."

"That's fair." Teeni glanced at the airlock. "Let's hope the locals don't mind us killing whatever those things were..."


	3. Chapter 3

"It feels like we've been waiting forever," Teeni grumbled, tapping her thigh as she watched the datascreen before her. "How long does it take to check up on a system discrepancy anyway?"

"It's a non-critical disturbance some distance from the local center of civilization," Parzon reminded her. "And with the dangerous wildlife, it might take time to rent out a vehicle tough enough to handle them. Or fast enough to outrun them."

"Two whole days, though? I would have expected a drone by now!"

"Perhaps the locals don't have automated devices."

Teeni grumbled, tapping a button. "Aernli, did your scans tell you if whoever lived her had drones?"

_"I wasn't able to unscramble their radio waves enough to get a good look at their media. Even if I had, it would be difficult to tell documentaries from dramatic fiction."_

"Well, I'm looking at this screen and--hold on." Teeni brought her fingers together. "Okay, something's coming in. Flying, shuttlecraft maybe--big enough to hold eight, maybe twelve if they're packed in tight."

 _"Investigation squad."_ Korax's voice was stern. _"Keep me posted on the vehicle's motion."_

"Will do." Teeni rubbed her hands together. "I haven't been on the extranet in a week. My family probably thinks I'm trapped in Batarian space now."

_"Are you always this talkative?"_

"Oh, am I always this talkative, he asks. Well it's not like I can read a book off the extranet, since I don't have that. I could have hacked the local network to see if there were any interesting alien shows, but no, our big bad Spectre says we can't alert the locals. Managed to finish up the repairs I can do without resources yesterday, so all I can do is sit here and watch a screen."

 _"Teeni."_ Aernli's voice was gentle. _"We're all frustrated. And... scared. And on edge from those attacks by the smoke creatures--"_

"Ship stopped. Edge of the forest. Alright, that's odd--and now it's turning around."

"Could be a fuel thing," Parzon mused. "Drop off the agents, go back to fill up."

_"More likely a tactics thing. If those smoke monsters are common, it would be harder to spot them in the forest."_

"Excellent point, Korax."

"Either way, prepare for people to come to you from the northwest. Don't know what they'll look like. Because they're aliens--"

Aernli sighed. _"We got it, Teeni."_

* * *

"So who wants to bet that _this_ radio problem is connected to, I don't know, a smuggling ring?"

A collection of exasperated sighs came from the rest of the group.

"What?" The blonde girl sporting a pair of yellow wristbands smirked. "Come on. Last time we fought a mad scientist. The time before that, the White Fang trying to cause a breach in Vale. And there's that criminal cabal that's taken interest in Ruby."

"I'm not sure that Roman Torchwick and the mysterious fire woman count as a cabal, Yang." The leader of the group, a girl with bloodred hair, rolled her silver eyes. "Partners, maybe a gang. Not a cabal."

"I'm just saying, sis, it's suspicious how they keep cropping up around you. Maybe this is another one of their eeeeeeevil scheeeeeeeemes, oOo _OoOo_ OoO..."

"Probably just a distress signal," said the white-haired girl, idly examining the trees around her. "Some survivor of a destroyed village..."

"Using technical knowledge to cause a slow-down in the CCT?"

"I didn't say it made _sense,_ Blake. Maybe they let fear affect their judgment."

The dark-haired girl that rounded out the quartet frowned. "There's a standard distress channel, Weiss. This is too much effort for something already available."

"Well then, what do you think it is?"

"...Bait."

Each of them slowed to a stop, looking back at her.

"It's a regular set of pings on an irregular frequency from a location without any service towers. It could be a secret project by some organization--the government, the White Fang, somebody else--but then they'd try to hide it. They want to attract attention, but if it were meant to be a distraction--"

"--it would be a lot more attention-grabbing," Ruby concluded. "This is just enough to make us look, but not enough to commit more than a single team."

"Well... fine, so we're walking into a trap," Yang said, rolling her shoulders. "What should we do?"

"...You and Blake head straight for it. Blake, you've got good hearing, you should be able to keep on alert while Yang tanks any surprises. Weiss and I will circle around from the west, set up a sniper position once we can spot the target. If something goes bad, Weiss will cover me while I get in close and... we'll figure it out from there."

"That seems like a reasonable plan," Weiss agreed.

Yang cracked her knuckles. "Should I go armed or look dumb?"

"Keep Ember Celcia retracted till you need it. Blake, can you use your weapon while the sheathe is still on?"

"I can, but I don't think it would help. I only use it like that against heavy enemies."

"...Good point. Just... be ready to flank with Yang. In case she needs it."

Yang smiled. "Ruby, you're overplanning."

"Right. Sorry. Okay team RWBY, we have our plan. Let's get going."

* * *

_"I've got a visual. Two, one armed. I'm sending my helmet cam to the ship."_

Teeni tapped a few buttons. "Got it. Huh. Aernli, I'm patching the vid to your omnitool. What do you make of these things?"

 _"Hmmm. Asari-like, obviously. Different outfits--maybe the one with a yellow crest is a technical expert, and the armed one is her bodyguard. Or his,"_ the asari quickly added, _"I don't want to assume anything about their gender."_

"Lightly armored for a bodyguard," Parzon noted. "Lightly equipped for a repairman too."

_"The bodyguard has ribbons and lace in their outfit, suggesting a highly active textile industry. If this is a caste-based society I would presume that to be a measure of wealth--perhaps she is an elite soldier of some kind."_

_"Odd weapon,"_ Korax noted. _"Teeni, can you zoom in on it? Check the hilt."_

"What would be so weird about... huh." Teeni tilted her head. "Well, either she's got a gun in the hilt of her sword, or this is some wild technology I've never seen before."

_"I was actually going to ask if the sword was attached by a hinge."_

"...Solid maybe on that. It's on a sliding bolt by three points. But there is a hinge higher up. Reconfigurable weaponry, maybe?"

 _"It would fit in with the idea that this is an elite soldier,"_ Aernli mused. _"They could have spent decades refining her skills. Might even be considered local nobility."_

"You know what bothers me?" Parzon tapped the screen. "Only two. We had a full shuttle and they have to know where the beacon is. Where's the rest of the squad?"

For a moment the comms were silent.

 _"They split up,"_ Korax suggested. _"This beacon must be incredibly suspicious. They think this might be a trap, so they're sending two to spring it while the rest wait to see what happens."_

"Then the yellow one isn't a repairman," Parzon suggested. "A messenger. Spring the trap, the soldier lets the yellow one run off and report to their superiors."

 _"Leather jacket, light garb... hard to spot in a forest, but with enough color to serve as an 'official' messenger."_ Aernli hummed thoughtfully. _"That actually makes sense."_

"So... what?" Teeni asked. "If this really is an elite soldier, do we change the plan?"

 _"...no. No."_ Aernli swallowed audibly. _"It's a lot riskier now, with the more direct connection to the local government that might be interested in... invasive research. But there's potential to get what we need a lot quicker. And... it would only be me risking something."_

The quarian leaned over the screen. "Aernli, you don't have to do this. We've seen what they look like, we could whip up a disguise or maybe a cloaking field and sneak into their city for what we need."

_"Two individuals is not a good measure of a society. It would be much more dangerous to go in without attempting to make contact."_

Korax sighed. _"...Turn on the tracker I gave you. I'll make sure you get back to us if they capture you."_

_"Alright. Good idea."_

_"They're within range of the beacon now. I'll keep an eye out for the other squad members."_

_"Okay. Okay, I just... need a few moments to psyche myself up for this."_

Teeni wrung her hands together. "...Good luck, Aernli."

* * *

"Should be a few more feet that way," Yang reported, pointing to a small clearing up ahead. "So, anything new with you?"

"Saw a bird yesterday, a couple hours before lunch. I got maybe thirty feet close to it, but then it flew to its nest."

"Thirty feet? Wow." Yang forced herself not to glance at a particular tree, though she couldn't help but mark it in her mind. "One excitable bird."

Blake nodded, carefully putting herself between Yang and the tree. "Yep. Of course it's not like that squirrel that keeps following you around."

Yang gave her a look. "The squirrel?"

"You've got a squirrel stalking you Yang." Blake kept her golden eyes locked on Yang's lilac pair, bow twitching. "It loves to hide whenever you look, but I swear I keep seeing it behind the trees."

"Man alive. Squirrels and birds." The blonde chuckled, tilting her head. "You sure about that squirrel?"

Blake sighed, crossing her arms and oh so incidentally pointing with her pinkie. "Yep."

"What is with us and wild animals? I'm almost expecting a horde of them to just jump us in the bedroom."

"I really hope we don't have to deal with more."

Yang nodded, turning back to her walk. "So, let's see what's in store for us." She stepped into the clearing, smiling. "Aha! It is... something!"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Very scientific, Yang."

"Hey, I'm just saying it's a thing. A tiny little metal doohicky, just sitting there in the middle of the trees." Yang walked over to the foot-tall cylinder, examining it carefully. "Doesn't look like any radio I've ever seen."

"Maybe it was jury-rigged."

"Outside's too clean." She picked it up carefully. "And... huh. Blake, I'm not getting hum off this."

Blake frowned, stepping forward. "What?"

"I mean it's humming," Yang said quickly, "I can hear some mechanism going in here, but whatever it is it's not brushing my aura."

"No, I know what hum is," Blake assured her. "But it's tapping into the CCT. How's it doing that without Dust?"

Yang weighed the item in her hands thoughtfully. "...maybe the paneling's just too thick for me to get hum." The doubt in her expression was clear, and it continued to grow as she rolled the cylinder around. "Wait, I just found what looks like a touchscreen."

"Yang you shouldn't--"

Blake's voice was cut off when Yang poked the screen, producing a panel of orange light with strange text an inch away from the screen itself.

"...Okay, that... hard-light dust is cyan, not orange. I don't see any laser projectors on this, unless the... screen itself is the projector somehow...?" Yang wove her hand through the orange panel. "Okay. So. Uh. Blake, if I said 'this is an alien computer--'"

"Honestly the best theory we've got," Blake admitted.

"--then, logically, there should be an alien."

"...that would seem about right..."

The two of them looked at the object warily.

"...so hey, do you think that squirrel we were talking about understands english?"

Blake blinked for a moment. "I... I guess it wouldn't, would it?"

"Right." Yang jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "There?"

"Yes--wait, what are you--"

The blonde turned around. "Hey! Alien dude!" She held the object out. "You coming to pick up your weird computer or what?"

Blake covered her face with a hand. "Yang...."


End file.
